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edenfallingToday has been an ADVENTURE. Capital letters most definitely deserved.
So, first we decided to go out for breakfast. Then we had to go back to Vicky's apartment because she forgot her phone. Then once we got the car out of the garage, we had to drive back yet again because Dad had forgotten both the guidebooks and the papers for the car. So we were nearly two hours late leaving on our planned day trip to Córdoba. But we got onto the highway, and thought our troubles were over.
Oh no.
As we were nearing Córdoba, we stopped to get gas for the car. We figured out which side of the car the tank was on, and continued on our merry way. Just as we had exited the highway and were getting into the city proper, following signs for the historic district...
The car stalled.
It wouldn't start again, no matter what Mom tried. (She drives, Dad navigates; it's a good partnership.)
It turned out, upon looking in the manual, that the car took diesel fuel. We had filled it with regular gasoline.
Ooops.
Fortunately, Vicky speaks Spanish and after she and Dad trekked to a nearby gas station and determined that they couldn't help us, she called the emergency help line in the car papers (and wasn't it good that we'd gone back for them?) and got us a tow truck to take the old car away, plus a taxi to take us to the local Alamo/National/Atesa office where we were able to rent a new car. Which also takes diesel fuel... but this time we KNOW that, and will not screw up again.
In a silver lining of sorts, it turns out that the new car is easier to drive than the previous one. *wry*
Anyway, we proceded onward to find parking and walk into the historic district at the center of Córdoba, whereupon we stopped for lunch, and then spent an hour or so wandering around the inside of the Mezquita, which was the huge and famous mosque built by the Caliphate of Córdoba (I cannot remember which dynasty they belonged to) that was later consecrated as a Christian church, and even later than that, bits of the mosque roof were knocked out and a Gothic/Baroque cathedral was inserted into the center of the vast colonnade that makes up the mosque's interior. It is architecturally bizarre, and absolutely fascinating.
We then took a brief walk out onto the old Roman bridge to see the flooded Guadalquivir river (this is apparently one of the rainiest Andalusian winters on record), and decided we had had enough adventuring for the day; we headed straight back to Sevilla. We reached the car park safely after another slight adventure in inadvertent detours (we seem to have taken one exit too soon or too late; we're not sure which), whereupon we went to a grocery store to get some supplies for Vicky and for tomorrow's breakfast.
When we reached Vicky's apartment, Dad declared he was feeling ill and needed a nap. Vicky said she was tired and ill and stressed and didn't want to go out for dinner, or to cook. So Mom and I went down the Alameda on our own and managed, rather awkwardly, to order dinner at a local restaurant Vicky recommended to us -- despite me slipping and ordering papas frites instead of papas bravas, it was tasty enough and we got through with extensive use of "por favor" and "gracias." Thank goodness for phrases of social lubrication!
Tomorrow Mom and I plan to see the Alcázar (the old Moorish and then Spanish royal castle/fortress), whether Dad is up to it or not. Vicky will be staying home to rest and start packing for her move. If Mom and I are feeling particularly adventurous, we may try to visit the Museum of fine arts as well.
I shall report on how this goes. But for now, I am off to bed. :-)
So, first we decided to go out for breakfast. Then we had to go back to Vicky's apartment because she forgot her phone. Then once we got the car out of the garage, we had to drive back yet again because Dad had forgotten both the guidebooks and the papers for the car. So we were nearly two hours late leaving on our planned day trip to Córdoba. But we got onto the highway, and thought our troubles were over.
Oh no.
As we were nearing Córdoba, we stopped to get gas for the car. We figured out which side of the car the tank was on, and continued on our merry way. Just as we had exited the highway and were getting into the city proper, following signs for the historic district...
The car stalled.
It wouldn't start again, no matter what Mom tried. (She drives, Dad navigates; it's a good partnership.)
It turned out, upon looking in the manual, that the car took diesel fuel. We had filled it with regular gasoline.
Ooops.
Fortunately, Vicky speaks Spanish and after she and Dad trekked to a nearby gas station and determined that they couldn't help us, she called the emergency help line in the car papers (and wasn't it good that we'd gone back for them?) and got us a tow truck to take the old car away, plus a taxi to take us to the local Alamo/National/Atesa office where we were able to rent a new car. Which also takes diesel fuel... but this time we KNOW that, and will not screw up again.
In a silver lining of sorts, it turns out that the new car is easier to drive than the previous one. *wry*
Anyway, we proceded onward to find parking and walk into the historic district at the center of Córdoba, whereupon we stopped for lunch, and then spent an hour or so wandering around the inside of the Mezquita, which was the huge and famous mosque built by the Caliphate of Córdoba (I cannot remember which dynasty they belonged to) that was later consecrated as a Christian church, and even later than that, bits of the mosque roof were knocked out and a Gothic/Baroque cathedral was inserted into the center of the vast colonnade that makes up the mosque's interior. It is architecturally bizarre, and absolutely fascinating.
We then took a brief walk out onto the old Roman bridge to see the flooded Guadalquivir river (this is apparently one of the rainiest Andalusian winters on record), and decided we had had enough adventuring for the day; we headed straight back to Sevilla. We reached the car park safely after another slight adventure in inadvertent detours (we seem to have taken one exit too soon or too late; we're not sure which), whereupon we went to a grocery store to get some supplies for Vicky and for tomorrow's breakfast.
When we reached Vicky's apartment, Dad declared he was feeling ill and needed a nap. Vicky said she was tired and ill and stressed and didn't want to go out for dinner, or to cook. So Mom and I went down the Alameda on our own and managed, rather awkwardly, to order dinner at a local restaurant Vicky recommended to us -- despite me slipping and ordering papas frites instead of papas bravas, it was tasty enough and we got through with extensive use of "por favor" and "gracias." Thank goodness for phrases of social lubrication!
Tomorrow Mom and I plan to see the Alcázar (the old Moorish and then Spanish royal castle/fortress), whether Dad is up to it or not. Vicky will be staying home to rest and start packing for her move. If Mom and I are feeling particularly adventurous, we may try to visit the Museum of fine arts as well.
I shall report on how this goes. But for now, I am off to bed. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 03:50 am (UTC)I LOVED the courtyard full of orange trees in the Mezquita. The smell of orange blossoms and honeysuckle takes me back to that day. It really is a strange place when you feel like you're in a mosque and then you see all these Christian altars right in the middle of it.
I hope you enjoy the Alcazar! That was one of my favorite places in Seville. The gardens all around the palace are fabulous, especially if the water fountains are actually running.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 05:00 pm (UTC)There is a courtyard of orange trees in Seville's cathedral as well as in Córdoba's Mezquita -- this is because Seville's cathedral was also built on the site of a former mosque, though in this case the Christians simply demolished the mosque and built a new structure on the old building's footprint. I think that's why the cathedral is so large; Andalusian mosques seem to have been very large structures, but built outward rather than upward. Anyway, no orange blossoms in winter, but the oranges themselves are in season and they make dramatic bursts of vivid color among the dark leaves.
Some of the fountains in the Alcázar were on, but only at low pressure; the Mercury waterfall thingy was the only one with significant flow. The gardens were nevertheless quite lovely!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 07:54 pm (UTC)The courtyard in Seville's cathedral just did not grab my attention as much as the one in the Mezquita. I think we (my tour group) didn't stick around in there as much as we did in Cordoba. At least you climbed up the bell tower here... I didn't get a chance to do that!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 12:37 am (UTC)The paving of the courtyard in Seville's cathedral is done in brick rather than stone, and I found the arrangement of irrigation channels from the central fountain to the orange trees more aesthetically pleasing than the corresponding arrangement in Córdoba. The courtyard in Córdoba is much larger, though, and thus probably makes more of an impression when the trees are in flower.